By MULTIPLE AUTHORS*
Letter of support to the architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Architect and professor Paulo Mendes da Rocha invites us to reflect on whether in a pyramid “it is the stone or the idea that have been there for over 5 years. Is it the stones or the ideas that last longer?”
His personal decision to donate the collection of documents to the Casa da Arquitectura in Portugal – which will guarantee its preservation and public and free access to the documents – shows us this path: in our integrated world of instant communication, what must be recognized and preserved are ideas and should be the set of knowledge that will lead us to the future.
In addition to respecting the freedom to choose the fate of his personal collection, we understand that it is fundamental and urgent, at this moment, to recall his rare trajectory of example, resistance and humanity in professional life, in teaching and in his political positions.
Long before the issue of colonization was placed at the center of discussions, as it so pertinently has been in those times, Paulo was already manifesting himself regarding the problems arising from its persistence among us.
Long before contemporary international critics investigated the urbanization and defunctionalization of buildings, Paulo was already part of a democratizing tradition in Brazilian architecture of building “Significant Nameless Spaces”, as defined by Flávio Motta. Long before these hard times we live in today, Paulo lived through the impeachment, along with Artigas, Maitrejean and many others, saw his presence at FAUUSP interrupted, and knew how to return to it and re-signify his teaching activities and the School itself in the years of democratic reconstruction.
That moment arrives when he decides to launch his ideas into the world, with the same vigor and the same generous and democratic imagination as always. To enlarge everyone's world, everywhere in the world. It is a big gesture, which does not diminish the importance of all Brazilian institutions, which have been suffering so much in a sad moment of cultural dismantling in Brazil. The effort to safeguard his work can be understood as part of the resistance against this dismantling.
For all this, we express our confidence in the correctness of his decision for everything he has already decided to do in life and that the deposit of his collection at the Casa de Arquitectura is a civilizing action, which overcomes historical questions, desirable strengthening supranational relations (and the Luso-Brazilian universe), as a project for a better and fairer world for all.
We ended up borrowing from Flavio Motta a presentation by Paulo, written almost 50 years ago, and still very current.
“Paulo Mendes da Rocha throws himself against this immobility [of man in front of things] with the will of the artist, Brazilian, architect that he is. He still allows us these advances insofar as they interest man. It not only allows, but instigates, even across borders, less through Geography, more through History, in search of a time that was not lost, but taken away” (Flavio Motta, in Reported Texts.
*Abilio Guerra; Achiles Coelho Maciel; Adriano Bergemann; Alberto Faria; Alberto Tassinari; Alejandro Aravena; Alejandro Echeverri; Alexandre Brasil; Alexandre de Carvalho; Alexandre Delijaicov; Alexandre Martins Fontes; Alexandre Prisco; Alvaro Puntoni; Alvaro Razuk; Alziro Carvalho Neto; Amauri Gavião; Ana Belluzzo; Ana Terra Capobianco; Ana Tostões; Ana Vaz Milheiros; Analia Amorim; Anderson Freitas; André Luiz Prado; André Vainer; André Velloso; Andrea Pedrazzini; Andrey Rosenthal Schlee; Angela Paredes; Angelo Bucci; Annete Spiro; Antonio Carlos Barossi; Aracy Amaral; Ary Perez; Barbara Hoidn; Bia Lessa; Bob Wolfenson; Bruno Braga; Bruno Santa; Cecília Caio Calafate; Camila Toledo; Carlos Alberto Maciel; Carlos Antônio Leite Brandão; Carlos Arcos; Carlos Barrado; Carlos Café; Carlos Corbett; Carlos Eduardo Comas; Carlos Guilherme Mota; Carlos Zilio; Carmela Gross; Carolina Bueno; Carolina Bueno Andrade Silva; Célia Euvaldo; Celso Pazzanese; Ciro Pirondi; Cristian Nanzer; Cristiane Muniz; Cristiano Lindenmeyer Kunze; Cristina Monteiro de Castro Pereira; Daniel Mangabeira; Danilo Santos de Miranda; Diane Gray; Diego Portas; Eder Alencar; Edson Fernandes; Eduardo Aquino; Eduardo Argenton Colonelli; Eduardo Ferroni; Eduardo Pierrotti Rossetti; Eduardo Souto de Moura; Elisabete França; Ester Grinspum; Euripedes Neto; Fabiano Melo; Fabiano Sobreira; Fábio Magalhães; Fábio Miguez; Fábio Valentim; Felipe Rio Branco; Felipe Tassara; Fernanda Barbara; Fernanda Neiva; Fernando Luiz Lara; Fernando Maculan; Fernando Viegas; Filipe Pederneiras; Flávio de Lemos Carsalade; Francesco Dal Co; Francisco Fanucci; Francisco Rivas; Frederico Rabelo; Gabriel Daher Jardim; Gabriela Izar; Gal Oppido; Gerardo Caballero; Gilberto Franco; Gilson Paranhos; Gleuson Pinheiro; Gloria Cabral Gonçalo Byrne; Gonzalo Barrado; Gregório Rosenbusch; Gui Paoliello; Guil Blanche; Guilherme Bravin; Guilherme Motta; Gustavo Penna; Henrique Coutinho; Hermes Romão; Hugo Mesquita; Ignacio Pedrosa; Igor Campos; Igor Dourado; Inês Lobo; Iole de Freitas; Iran do Espírito Santo; Isa Grinspum Ferraz; Jac Leirner; Jaime Marcondes Cupertino; Javier Corvalán; Jean Pierre Crousse; Jô Vasconcellos; João Belo Rodeia; João Diniz; João Luis Carrilho da Graça; João Luiz Valim Batelli; João Nitsche; João Paulo Beugger; Jorge Furtado; Jorge Pessoa de Carvalho; Jorge Silvetti; Jorge Villavisencio; José Armenio Brito Cruz; José Fernando Minho; Jose Maria Saez; José Oswaldo Vilela; José Paulo Gouvea; José Resende; Josep María Montaner; Joseto Cubilla; Juliana Villela Junqueira; Julio Gaeta; Jupira Corbucci; Larissa Pontes; Laura Penna; Laymert Garcia dos Santos; Leda Catunda; Leonardo Bianchetti; Leonardo Finotti; Leticia Tamisari; Lisiane Dutra; Lua Nitsche; Lucas Fehr; Lucía Barrado; Luciana Saboia; Luciano Margotto; Luís Fernando Teixeira; Luiz Henrique Lopes dos Santos; Luiz Otavio Rodrigues; Luiz Renato Martins; Maira Rios; Manoel Balbino; Manoel Fonseca; Manuel Aires; Mateus Marcelo Barbosa; Marcelo Ferraz; Marcelo Gualano; Marcelo Morettin; Marcelo Suzuki; Marcelo Vila; Marcia Lucia Guilherme; Marcia Terazaki; Marco Giannotti; Marcos Acayaba; Marcos Cartum; Marcos Cereto; Marcos Franchini; Marcos Laffyte; Marcus Vinicius Damon; Maria Alice Milliet; Maria Cristina Villefort Teixeira; Maria Helena Queiroz Lobo; Maria João Figueiredo; Maria Lucia Malard; Maria Lúcia Mello Oliveira Cacciola; Marianna Boghosian Al Assal; Mariano Faraci; Marina Correia; Mario Biselli; Mario Corea; Mario Figueroa; Marisa Moreira Salles; Mariza Machado Coelho; Marta Moreira; Martin Benavidez; Martin Cobas; Martin Corullon; Masao Kamita; Matheus Gorovitz; Matheus Seco; Maurício José Laguardia Campomori; Maurício Rocha; Michelle Jean de Castro; Miguel Góes; Miguel Maratá; Milton Braga; Monica Bertolino; Monica Moreira; Murilo Romeu Nader Tehrani; Naia Alban; Nara Grossi; Nathalia Cantergiani; Nattalia Bom Conselho; Neilton Dorea; Nelson Kon; Neudson Braga; Nicolas Campadonico; Nivaldo Andrade; Nonato Veloso; Nuno Ramos; Otavio Leonidio; Pablo Hereñu; Pablo Talhouk; Patrícia Galvão; Patrício Porto; Paula Bonomi; Paula Zasnicoff; Paulo Henrique Paranhos; Paulo Monteiro; Paulo Pasta; Paulo Pederneiras; Paulo Portella Filho; Paulo Ribeiro; Paulo Sergio Duarte; Pedro Morais; Pedro Nitsche; Pedro Paulo Palazzo; Pedro Pederneiras; Pedro Varella; Philip Yang; Raul Gradim; Renata Semin; Ricardo Bak Gordon; Ricardo Bozza; Ricardo Carvalho; Ricardo Sargiotti; Roberto Klein; Rodolfo Marques; Rodrigo Andrade; Rodrigo Mendes; Rodrigo Monteiro; Rodrigo Naves; Rodrigo Santana; Ronaldo Brito; Rui Furtado; Ruth Verde Zein; Sami Bussab; Sandra Barclay; Sérgio Magalhães; Sérgio Sister; Solano Benitez; Sophia S.
